One Day Sale
by EscapeToCity
Summary: Holiday shopping. Slash suggested. Futurefic. Please R&R.


ONE DAY SALE  
  
By: EscapeToCity  
  
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me. They are the property of DC Comics/Time Warner/Millar-Gough, etc.  
  
Notes: Futurefic. Clark and Lex do some holiday shopping. Fairly light- hearted. Read and let me know what you think.  
  
Warmest (holiday) wishes,  
  
JB @ Horseshoe Bay  
  
Schreck & Co. lorded over Broadway like a fortress of consumption. A palace of trade and might.  
  
Fifteen floors. Three million square feet.  
  
The Big Store. A City in itself.  
  
About two thousand people milled around the doors. It was nearly time.  
  
Drooling, clawing, panting, undulating about the brushed steel doors, the crowds babbled and sang and chanted their mantra.  
  
"One. Day. Sale."  
  
They whispered it like a prayer. Moaned it in ecstasy. Whistled it.  
  
"One. Day. Sale."  
  
8:59.  
  
Thirty sweating security guards said their prayers and eased fearfully towards the central hallway of the store.  
  
Outside a woman began to cry and wail, her pudgy hands shaking.  
  
A man began to jump like a dachshund after a Frisbee, desperate to see over the heads of the crowd.  
  
"This is disgusting, Clark."  
  
"It's the holidays, Lex. People act kind of wonky."  
  
"Funny you use that word, 'wonky.' These morons are acting like the brats in Willy Wonka. Covetous, grabby, infantile--"  
  
"They're just excited, Lex. C'mon, you promised you wouldn't be a cynic today. Please?"  
  
"For you, Clark. Only for you."  
  
9:00.  
  
The doors were pulled back. A collective sigh was heard throughout the crowd. The guards exhaled. So far, so good. The group was moving peacefully through the entrance and into the sales floor. Nothing like last year. Nope, nothing like that.  
  
Last year they had smashed out the front windows at 8:45.  
  
"There's so much here, Lex."  
  
Schreck's sold everything from Russian sable to fishing bait. Gumballs to goulash and caviar to kitty cats.  
  
"Sensory overload, Clark."  
  
"My mom said this store used to be even bigger."  
  
"My mother used to love this place."  
  
Lillian had loved it because it had the best toys for her favorite guy. And it sold ice cream sundaes in the 'Candy' store behind the kids department. And because she could be herself among the racks; no pretense or idol worship among the customers or staff. She was not wife to the world's richest man; no-- she was simply an attentive mother with a beautiful child.  
  
"We came here often."  
  
"Must bring back memories, huh? I hope they are good ones, Lex."  
  
"Everything about her was good, Clark. Everything."  
  
Clark held Lex's hand as they continued to walk around the stationery department.  
  
10:30.  
  
"You would've liked Lacy's women's department better."  
  
Clark grabbed Lex's shoulder and hugged him.  
  
"I'm happy anywhere with you, guy."  
  
Lex kinda blushed. And still wished they had gone to Lacy-Wayne's. It was refined and quiet, selective and well staffed. The Metropolis equivalent of Neiman's or Bergdorf's.  
  
Martha deserved Gucci.  
  
Not this madhouse. There must be ten thousand people in here now.  
  
"You okay, Lex? I just found Mom a great scarf."  
  
"It's got the store logo on it, Clark."  
  
"Kinda kitschy, huh?"  
  
"Schrecky the Cat."  
  
Lex remembered the giant revolving feline above the store's entrance. His mother's laugh every time they watched the cat blink at shoppers.  
  
"I'm fine, Clark. I'm just watching a toddler eat candy off the floor."  
  
Clark frowned then laughed.  
  
"You're always saying you need to do more to reach out to the masses, Senator Luthor."  
  
The junior senator was getting so-so reviews. Some called him distant. Everyone called him knowledgeable. Mysterious. Elitist. Groundbreaking. Dangerous.  
  
"Quiet, Clark! You know I--"  
  
"Hiding from your constituents. That wig looks ridiculous, Lex."  
  
"I thought you said it was sexy, Clark. Look, I just want some time out of the public eye. I just want to enjoy holiday shopping with my best friend and favorite bed buddy."  
  
Clark held up a bright red scarf, effectively hiding his crimson cheeks.  
  
"Bed buddy?"  
  
"Don't whisper, lover. You never do in bed."  
  
"Shut up, Lex!"  
  
Giggling and kissing behind the racks commenced.  
  
Lex's father had tried to buy this store and its branches out about ten years before. Big corporate shenanigans ensued. LuthorCorp nearly bankrupted the entire chain until Colin Thornton, owner of Newstime and WGBS, swept in and bought out the inventory.  
  
Thornton was a good man, a decent guy. He had recently married television anchor Lois Lane in what gossip columnists were calling the 'wedding of the decade.'. He had also recently sold Clark's employer, the 'Planet', to Wayne-Kyle Industries of Gotham.  
  
Lex didn't like to think about Bruce being Clark's boss. But he imagined it did make JLA business easier.  
  
12:30.  
  
"They really do sell champagne here. Want some, Lex?"  
  
"No thanks. We've got a basement full of the stuff, remember?"  
  
Clark remembered the first time he tried liquor in the first year he met Lex at the first Christmas he knew he was 'different.'  
  
Lex had come by the farm to talk about the truck and the bridge and things Clark didn't want to deal with and then Lex produced a flask of something brown and warm and Clark drank and drank.  
  
And felt nothing.  
  
But he did feel Lex's tongue in his mouth and the way it rolled onto his and felt so wet and risky and wonderful.  
  
"Daydreaming, Clark?"  
  
"Remembering. Good things."  
  
"You want to go up to women's accessories now? I think it's on seven."  
  
"Sure."  
  
3:30.  
  
"Clark, can't you x-ray around the store and find a shorter line."  
  
"I've been trying, Lex. There's lead paint on the walls. Looks like we're stuck."  
  
"Damn, damn, damn. I'm never--"  
  
"You promised, Lex."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Clark had found an orange scarf for his mother. A teddy bear for little Whitney Ross. A Tae-Bo exercise video for Lana and a pimped-out bowler hat for Pete.  
  
Lex planned to buy gift cards.  
  
"Selection is the spice of life, kiddo."  
  
Clark just shrugged and smiled.  
  
"I'm glad we gave Dad that extra twenty acres for planting. I haven't seen him so happy in a while."  
  
"He's happy because he loves you, Clark. You could have given him dirt and he'd call it gold."  
  
Clark smiled but knew Lex's voice was edged with sadness. Lionel had been gone four years this December.  
  
"Lex."  
  
Hands found face and held it there, safe and comforted.  
  
A whisper--  
  
"Please find us a short line so we can get home, love. My feet are killing me and that pervasive perfume smell is going to make me vomit."  
  
"OK, Lex, OK. Maybe Superman can find some excuse to make an appearance, get his shopping done. They'd definitely let him go to the front of the line."  
  
"Clark Kent, I'm amazed. Using your hero persona to move ahead. What would your upstanding politician boyfriend say?"  
  
"He'd say I'm the sexiest, kindest (lowering voice), best *hung* guy in Metropolis."  
  
A hand surreptiously made contact with an aforementioned member.  
  
"Yeah. Um. Yeah."  
  
Clark tried not to moan too loudly. "Yes."  
  
"Oh yeah. He'd probably say that."  
  
A voice rang out from somewhere in the roar of commerce--  
  
"You two stop that groping and get up to the register. I gotta use my triple coupons!"  
  
END 'One Day Sale' 


End file.
